Think of the Risks...

...faced by generations of test pilots and other flight-test aircrew in furthering the cause of aviation: some 400 of them
died on test-flying duties in Britain alone. The safety and reliability we expect of modern day aviation was won only through the
ultimate sacrifices of these brave men - and women.

About the Database

A project to create a test flying memorial was begun by the late John Maynard and Michael Oakey at Aeroplane Monthly magazine back in 2006. This was to be
in the form of a hand-inscribed Roll of Honour to be put on display at the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust (FAST) Museum at Farnborough. Author and
historian John Maynard put together the data to be used in the Roll of Honour and it was published online at www.testflyingmemorial.com as
each section was completed. The intention was that the public could notify the project's creators of any errors and thus make the final Roll of Honour
as accurate as possible.

Unfortunately with the completion of the physical Roll of Honour and its unveiling in 2008, the website was left to die a slow death, with the
last update made in summer 2008. Sadly John Maynard then passed away, and the domain name was not renewed in 2010, causing the site to go offline.
A valuable resource was therefore apparently lost. While the physical Roll of Honour is a fantastic memorial, it is only available for inspection at FAST
and the loss of the online database has been keenly felt. Therefore, this database has been created, based on the information on the last archived copy
of the old website, with obvious errors and typos dealt with and various other changes for consistency and readability. There is, therefore, a very good
chance that there are errors or omissions in comparison with the final physical Roll of Honour at FAST. Corrections or further details on any particular
loss are therefore most welcome - please use the contact form to submit any feedback, or make a comment on any individual entry.

The data is fully searchable and individual incidents can be displayed on a single page and therefore linked to; if anybody wishes to have a snapshot
of the database, please get in contact and I'll be only too glad to provide a copy as a SQL dump or a CSV file. No claim of
copyright is made in respect of this data which I feel should belong to us all.

Inclusion Criteria

Members of flight-test crews on flights in experimental or prototype aircraft, and in other aircraft undertaking trials of new powerplants, propellers, control systems, armaments, communication systems and radars, as well as in the proving of ground-based systems such as ground-controlled approach and other landing aids, catapults and deck-landing equipment.

"Members of flight-test crews" are defined as pilots, navigators and operators of navigational equipment, radio and radar operators, flight test observers, armament specialists and crafts-men undertaking specific tasks on structures, systems, or equipment. They will include members of the armed services, of British-owned airlines and aircraft manufacturing or equipment companies, of the scientific civil service, or of regulatory authorities and other recognised aviation agencies.

Test flying is taken to mean participating in official test programmes with the objective of proving experimental or prototype aircraft, engines, propellers and any ancillary equipment. It will also include trials of production aircraft before customer acceptance, to fulfil either standard airworthiness requirements or specific test objectives and investigations within a defined programme.

In the context of this proposition a flight-test accident is one occurring in an aircraft of British manufacture, or one of other national origin under test while the subject of actual or possible acquisition by the British armed services, or by British airlines. The same qualification will apply to the testing of engines, propellers or ancillary equipment of non-British origin. Official programmes covering the testing and evaluation of enemy aircraft are also within the terms of this proposal. Accidents occurring during display flying will not be included unless an experimental or prototype aircraft flying within its test programme is involved.

Credits

Original database compiled by John Maynard primarily from the works of the late Derek Collier Webb and the late Harald Penrose
with the assistance of Tim Mason (inter-war period), Terry Hefferman (A&AEE Boscombe Down). Corrections and additional details from Paul McMillan,
members of the RAF Commands forum, Al Clark, Colin Bruggy and myself.

I hope that the database stands both as memorial to all those contained within it, but also to John Maynard for seeing through such a worthwhile project
to its completion.

Visitor Comments

6 people have commented on this page. This is comment section 1 of 1.

John Carver from High Wycombe

Posted at 11:58pm on Monday, October 10th, 2016

As a non-aeronaughtical engineer it is good to see the work of these guys lauded.I think most people working on this stuff will appreciate the sometimes discomfort and risks that had to be taken. They are truly heroes!

Jan Hoek from Katwijk

Posted at 6:00pm on Sunday, November 17th, 2013

Swift mk7 were testing rockets ,I wonder of the difficulties with the reheat of the avon mk116 were solved

Stewart Lee WARING from lincolnshire

Posted at 10:10am on Monday, November 11th, 2013

I flew as a pilot (Flt.Lt) with the Radar Research Squadron at RAE Bedford for three years on Canberras, Meteor, Comet, Nimrod, Viscount and others on trials of various kinds, It was the best posting you could have.

David Bailey from Lichtenfels

Posted at 12:48pm on Sunday, October 14th, 2012

As Neil McCarthy says, a very worthy site. During the war years my father Robert Bailey was an engineer at Rotols Staverton facility accompanying Bryan Greensted, Rotols chief test pilot, on Wellington/Halifax propeller deicing test flights (apparently quite dodgy at times as chunks of ice occasionally crashed through the fuselage skin). Latterly he worked as a test engineer for Supermarines at Chilbolton heavily involved with 508, 535 and Swift prototype development alongside Mike Lithgow,Dave Morgan,Les ... read more »read more »